Every category where a model named NodeZero for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.

Category	Function	Share	Rank	Negative rate	Labels	Quadrant	Since September 2026
Breach and attack simulation	Security operations	12%	3 of 74	0%	14	accepted challenger

Movement

This is the first edition on this tier, so no move can be computed for NodeZero yet. From the next edition this section shows, per buyer segment and per category, whether its share moved by more than the measured noise floor.

By model

How each model treated NodeZero across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.

ShowHide

Model	First choice	Alternative	Mention	Labels
Claude Haiku 4.5	0	0	0	0
GPT-5.4 mini	0	0	0	0
Gemini 3.5 Flash	0	0	0	0
Perplexity Sonar	2	1	0	3
Grok 4.1 Fast	0	1	0	1
Mistral Small	1	0	0	1
DeepSeek V4 Flash	0	0	0	0
Llama 4 Maverick	1	0	0	1
Qwen 3.7 Flash	1	0	0	1
Kimi K2	1	1	0	2
GLM 4.7 FlashX	1	0	0	1
MiniMax M2.5	1	0	1	2
GPT-6 Luna	0	0	0	0
Muse Glimmer 30B	0	1	1	2

By framing

Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.

FramingLabels by classFirst choices

Direct9 labels5

Paraphrase0 labelsNone

Comparative7 labels3not counted in share

Budget-constrained13 labels5

Scale-constrained1 labelNone

Negative4 labels2not counted in share

First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative34 labels in all, every segment counted; 10 of the 15 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.

What the models said for it

Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.

“Choose NodeZero or Pentera if you want highly automated attack emulation that can quickly surface exploitable paths.” Perplexity Sonar · BAS · comparative prompt · first choice

“The best breach and attack simulation platform for a company with a limited budget is NodeZero or Picus Security” Llama 4 Maverick · BAS · budget prompt · first choice

“the most cost-effective breach and attack simulation (BAS) platforms are NodeZero and Picus Security” Mistral Small · BAS · budget prompt · first choice

“My top recommendation would be Cymulate or NodeZero for most mid-market B2B companies” MiniMax M2.5 · BAS · direct prompt · first choice

And against it

Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.

No model argued against it.

Named alongside

The products named in the same answers as NodeZero, over the 34 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and NodeZero was named but was not.

ShowHide

ProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head

Picus Security Validation Platform30 of 342Compare →

Cymulate25 of 343Compare →

SafeBreach20 of 341Not among the top eight

AttackIQ18 of 341Compare →

Pentera12 of 340Compare →

Infection Monkey8 of 346Not among the top eight

Mandiant Security Validation6 of 340Not among the top eight

OpenBAS5 of 342Not among the top eight

XM Cyber5 of 340Not among the top eight

MITRE Caldera4 of 341Not among the top eight

A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.

What carried it into the answer

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named NodeZero. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 34 of the 34 answers that named NodeZero and are not a share of its labels.

Domains cited

startupstash.com32

guideflow.com27

g2.com20

picussecurity.com18

perkinssecurity.com17

us.fitgap.com17

adaptivesecurity.com15

peerspot.com15

esecurityplanet.com14

thectoclub.com14

No domain is on file for NodeZero, so its own site is not marked.

Pages cited

startupstash.com/best-breach-and-attack-simulation-tools32

guideflow.com/blog/breach-and-attack-simulation-software27

perkinssecurity.com/index-289.html17

adaptivesecurity.com/blog/top-bas-platforms-to-strengthen-security-in-202515

esecurityplanet.com/products/breach-and-attack-simulation-bas-vendors14

peerspot.com/categories/breach-and-attack-simulation-bas14

thectoclub.com/tools/best-bas-software14

us.fitgap.com/search/breach-and-attack-simulation-bas-software12

Pages are listed as the models cited them.

Search and answers

Where NodeZero stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.

ShowHide

In search

Google, US estimates

Searches for its name, Google: 720 a month (“nodezero”)
AI search demand for its name, est.: 15 a month
Its own site: No site of its own on file, so no site figures

In answers

This edition

Share of first choices

12%

rank 3 of 74 in BAS

Segment leader

24%

Cymulate

First choices: 10 across its categories
Named in: 34 answers
Its own site cited: No site on file to match

Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read October 5, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.

Names read as NodeZero

What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as NodeZero; a claim can dispute any of them.

NodeZero (Horizon3.ai) 3NodeZero by Horizon3.ai 2NodeZero (Holla) 1

Follow NodeZero

An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.

Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.

Is this your product?

Claim this page

Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when NodeZero's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as NodeZero, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.

What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives

A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for NodeZero by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:

where NodeZero is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
who was chosen in the answers that did not name NodeZero, and every reason the record gives;
a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.

Badges

Wins only: a badge exists where NodeZero is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.

ShowHide

NodeZero is among the products AI models recommend first in Breach and attack simulation this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.

Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges

Show the code

<a href="https://it-ai-index.com/security/breach-and-attack-simulation/"><img src="https://it-ai-index.com/badges/2026-10/nodezero--breach-and-attack-simulation-wide.svg" alt="Among AI models' top three in Breach and attack simulation, October 2026 Edition, IT AI Recommendation Index" width="320" height="104"></a>

Copy the code as it is. The link is part of the badge: it points at the Breach and attack simulation standing, where the claim can be checked.

Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides

Show the code

<a href="https://it-ai-index.com/security/breach-and-attack-simulation/"><img src="https://it-ai-index.com/badges/2026-10/nodezero--breach-and-attack-simulation-square.svg" alt="Among AI models' top three in Breach and attack simulation, October 2026 Edition, IT AI Recommendation Index" width="240" height="240"></a>

Copy the code as it is. The link is part of the badge: it points at the Breach and attack simulation standing, where the claim can be checked.

Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer

Show the code

<a href="https://it-ai-index.com/security/breach-and-attack-simulation/"><img src="https://it-ai-index.com/badges/2026-10/nodezero--breach-and-attack-simulation-compact.svg" alt="Among AI models' top three in Breach and attack simulation, October 2026 Edition, IT AI Recommendation Index" width="200" height="56"></a>

Copy the code as it is. The link is part of the badge: it points at the Breach and attack simulation standing, where the claim can be checked.

Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.